Peptide-hinge-free flexible antibody-like molecule

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides an antibody that can bind to targets with greater affinity. A flexible antibody-like molecule having a nonpeptide hinge part comprising: a group having a nonpeptide hinge part represented by a general formula (I): XY-Asp-Lys-Thr-His-Thr (SEQ ID No. 1)—wherein X represents an amino acid or a peptide composed of 2 to 50 amino acid residues, and Y represents for a group having an alkyleneoxide; and an antibody Fc fragment bound to the group having a nonpeptide hinge part.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 14/569,070, filedDec. 12, 2014, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,725,503, which is acontinuation of U.S. Ser. No. 14/354,984, filed Apr. 29, 2014, nowabandoned, which is a § 371 national stage of PCT InternationalApplication No. PCT/JP2012/061529, filed May 1, 2012, claiming thebenefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/553,910, filed Oct. 31,2011, the entire contents of each of which are incorporated herein byreference.

REFERENCE TO A SEQUENCE LISTING

This application incorporates-by-reference nucleotide and/or amino acidsequences which are present in the file named“170807_87151-AAA-PCT-US_Substitute_Sequence_Listing _CAE.txt” which is2.07 kilobytes in size, and which was created Aug. 7, 2017 in the IBM-PCmachine format, having an operating system compatibility withMS-Windows, which is contained in the text file filed Aug. 7, 2017 aspart of this application.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an artificial antibody. Morespecifically, the present invention relates to a flexible antibody-likemolecule having a nonpeptide hinge part.

BACKGROUND ART

The essence of an antibody molecule is its Y-shape. By 1940, Paulingenvisioned that antibodies have three regions and correctly predictedthat the middle part has the same configuration as normal γ-globulinwhile the two ends have variable configurations that are complementaryto the surface of an antigen¹⁾ (Non-Patent Document 1). Porter proved in1958 that γ-globulin is formed from three globular sections, anddemonstrated that these sections could be split apart by papain²⁾(Non-Patent Document 2). The sequence of one part (Fc) of these sectionswas shown to be essentially conserved in all γ-globulins, while theother two sections (Fab) were shown to vary considerably in sequencefrom molecule to molecule. By 1969, Edelman et al. presented a completedescription of the connections between the Fab region and the Fcregion³⁾ (Non-Patent Document 3). Papain cleavage occurs within twoheavy chains so that Fab arms, each of which has a light chain bound tothe N-terminal portion of the heavy chain by a disulfide, are releasedfrom an Fc fragment that is a disulfide-bound dimer composed of theC-terminal half of the heavy chains. All of the cysteines participatingin these interchain disulfide bonds are clustered at the very middle ofthe heavy chain, giving the γ-globulins their Y-shape.

A more dynamic picture of γ-globulin structure has emerged from electronmicroscopy of antibody-antigen complexes^(4),5)) (Non-Patent Documents 4and 5). In the presence of divalent haptens, antibodies form cyclicdimers, trimers, tetramers, pentamers, and larger structures. Althoughthe Fab part and the Fc part have the appearance of rigid rods, theangle between them varies from zero to 180°, allowing them to bridgeantigens at distances up to 120 angstroms. The antibody behaves as ifall the three parts were bound by a “hinge part” that is a name now usedfor a heavy chain region containing interchain disulfides. Despite itssmall size of just ten amino acids in IgG1, the hinge part displaysconsiderable variation in its configuration. The one available crystalstructure of a human IgG1 having a full-length hinge part⁶⁾ (Non-PatentDocument 6) reveals extreme asymmetry in the placement of the Fab arms,and this reflects differences in their distance and rotationaldisplacement from Fc. Although the hinge parts on adjacent heavy chainsare mutually separated by a distance of 18 angstroms or less, the Fabarms diverge at a 148° angle along their major axes and are rotated by158° along their depth axes.

At the beginning of 1989, Capon et al. reported that the Fab arms of IgGcould be replaced with a variety of other proteins including theextracellular domains of CD4, L-selectin, and tumor necrosis factor(TNF) receptor^(7) to 14)) (Non-Patent Documents 7 to 14). TheseY-shaped antibody-like molecules (called immunoadhesins or Fc fusionproteins) are cleaved by papain, like antibodies, into three fragmentsand have many of the biological properties of IgG including a longplasma half-life, Fc receptor and complement binding, and the ability tocross the placenta. All of them were shown to have therapeuticpotential. Specifically, CD4 immunoadhesin prevented HIV-1 infection inchimpanzees, L-selectin immunoadhesin blocked neutrophil influx in mice,and TNF receptor immunoadhesin protected mice against lethal endotoxicshock. Their prolonged half-life in the blood⁷⁾ (Non-Patent Document 7)has proven particularly valuable, and it leads to the approval of fivetherapeutic drugs, i.e., etanercept (TNF receptor), abatacept (CTLA-4),alefacept (LFA-3), rilonacept (IL-1 receptor), and romiplostim(thrombopoietin analog)¹⁵⁾ (Non-Patent Document 15).

PRIOR ART DOCUMENTS Non-Patent Documents

Non-Patent Document 1: Pauling, L. (1940) A theory of the structure andprocess of formation of antibodies. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 62, 2643-2657.

Non-Patent Document 2: Porter, R. R. (1958) Separation and isolation offractions of rabbit gamma-globulin containing the antibody and antigeniccombining sites. Nature 182, 670-671.

Non-Patent Document 3: Edelman, G. M., Cunningham, B. A., Gall, W. E.,Gottlieb, P. D., Rutishauser, U. and Waxdal, M. J. (1969) The covalentstructure of an entire .Gimmunoglobulin molecule. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.U.S.A. 63, 78-85.

Non-Patent Document 4: Feinstein, A. and Rowe, A. J. (1965) Molecularmechanism of formation of an antigen-antibody complex. Nature 205,147-149.

Non-Patent Document 5: Valentine, R. C. and Green, N. M. (1967) Electronmicroscopy of an antibody hapten complex. J. Mol. Biol. 27, 615-617.

Non-Patent Document 6: Saphire, E. O., Stanfield, R. L., Crispin, M. D.,Parren, P. W., Rudd, P. M., Dwek, R. A., Burton, D. R. and Wilson, I. A.(2002) Contrasting IgG structures reveal extreme asymmetry andflexibility. J. Mol. Biol. 319, 9-18.

Non-Patent Document 7: Capon, D. J., Chamow, S. M., Mordenti, J.,Marsters, S. A., Gregory, T., Mitsuya, H., Byrn, R. A., Lucas, C., Wurm,F. M., Groopman, J. E., Broder, S. and Smith, D. H. (1989) Designing CD4immunoadhesins for AIDS therapy. Nature 337, 525-531.

Non-Patent Document 8: Byrn, R. A., Mordenti, J., Lucas, C., Smith, D.,Marsters, S. A., Johnson, J. S., Cossum, P., Chamow, S. M., Wurm, F. M.,Gregory, T., Groopman, J. E. and Capon, D. J. (1990) Biologicalproperties of a CD4 immunoadhesin. Nature 344, 667-670.

Non-Patent Document 9: Chamow, S. M., Peers, D. H., Byrn, R. A.,Mulkerrin, M. G., Harris, R. J., Wang, W. C., Bjorkman, P. J., Capon, D.J. and Ashkenazi, A. (1990) Enzymatic cleavage of a CD4 immunoadhesingenerates crystallizable, biologically active Fd-like fragments.Biochemistry 29, 9885-9891.

Non-Patent Document 10: Ward, R. H., Capon, D. J., Jett, C. M., Murthy,K. K., Mordenti, J., Lucas, C., Frie, S. W., Prince, A. M., Green, J. D.and Eichberg, J. W. (1991) Prevention of HIV-1 IIIB infection inchimpanzees by CD4 immunoadhesin. Nature 352, 434-436.

Non-Patent Document 11: Watson, S. R., Imai, Y., Fennie, C., Geoffrey,J. S., Rosen, S. D. and Lasky, L. A. (1990) A homing receptor-IgGchimera as a probe for adhesive ligands of lymph node high endothelialvenules. J. Cell Biol. 110, 2221-2229.

Non-Patent Document 12: Watson, S. R., Fennie, C. and Lasky, L. A.(1991) Neutrophil influx into an inflammatory site inhibited by asoluble homing receptor-IgG chimaera. Nature 349, 164-167.

Non-Patent Document 13: Ashkenazi, A., Marsters, S. A., Capon, D. J.,Chamow, S. M., Figari, I. S., Pennica, D., Goeddel, D. V., Palladino, M.A. and Smith, D. H. (1991) Protection against endotoxic shock by a tumornecrosis factor receptor immunoadhesin. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.88, 10535-10539.

Non-Patent Document 14: Ashkenazi, A., Capon, D. J. and Ward, R. H.(1993) Immunoadhesins. Int. Rev. Immunol. 10, 219-227.

Non-Patent Document 15: Reichert, J. M. (2011) Antibody-basedtherapeutics to watch in 2011. MAbs 3, 76-99.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention

There is a great need for antibodies that can bind to targets withgreater affinity.

The above-described approved therapeutic antibodies are directed againsttargets that are multimeric proteins. This suggests that the therapeuticantibodies could be improved if both arms could grasp a particulartarget molecule. Unfortunately, this task is not straightforward as thehinge part normally points the Fab arms away from each other. Outwardlypointing arms may have evolved to grasp large disease targets such asbacteria, but inwardly pointing arms would make it easy to grasp smallertargets such as proteins (e.g., TNF) The latter would likely requirethat the hinge part is not only flexible but also extendible to adistance of at least several nanometers away from Fc (a combination ofproperties that are found in many types of polymer chains, but aretypically lacking in polypeptides¹⁶⁾).

Means for Solving the Problems

An attractive solution is to create an antibody hinge part that is bothflexible and extendible by employing nonprotein chains. Here, thepresent inventors will describe significant progress towards thesegoals.

The present inventors have devised a chemical synthesis method based ona native chemical ligation¹⁷⁾ that gives quantitative yields of Fefusion proteins but is appropriate to a native, biologically active Femolecule. The present inventors will report a novel chemical synthesismethod for producing a symmetroadhesin that is an antibody-like moleculehaving a nonprotein hinge region that is more flexible and extendibleand is capable of two-handed binding.

Using this approach, the present inventors fused a 15 amino acid peptidehaving the immunodominant epitope of Alzheimer's Aβ(1-42)fibrils^(18) to 21)) and successfully incorporated nonprotein chainsbetween the Aβ and Fc moieties. That is, a native chemical ligation wasperformed under mild, non-denaturing conditions to bind a ligand bindingdomain (Aβ peptide) to an IgG1 Fc dimer via discrete oxyethyleneoligomers of various lengths. Two-handed Aβ-Fc fusion proteins wereobtained in quantitative yield and shown by surface plasmon resonance tobind to an anti-Aβ antibody with a K_(D) that is at least two orders ofmagnitude smaller than a control Aβ peptide.

MALDI-TOF MS, as developed by Tanaka et al.^(22),23)), was applied toconfirm the structure of the nonprotein chain by virtue of theionization and desorption of the adjacent protein regions. MALDI-TOF MSanalysis confirmed the protein/nonprotein/protein structure of thetwo-handed molecule, and this demonstrated that complexprotein-nonprotein hybrids were detected by desorption/ionization ofpeptide sequences contained therein. The present inventors anticipatemany applications for symmetroadhesins that combine the targetspecificity of antibodies with the novel physical, chemical, andbiological properties of nonprotein hinge part.

The present invention includes the following aspects.

(1) A flexible antibody-like molecule having a nonpeptide hinge partcomprising:

a group having a nonpeptide hinge part represented by a general formula(I):XY-Asp-Lys-Thr-His-Thr (SEQ ID No. 1)-wherein X represents an amino acid or a peptide composed of 2 to 50amino acid residues, and Y represents for a group having analkyleneoxide; and

an antibody Fc fragment bound to the group having a nonpeptide hingepart.

(2) The flexible antibody-like molecule according to the above (1),wherein the X is an amyloid β.

(3) The flexible antibody-like molecule according to the above (1) or(2), wherein the Y is a polyethyleneglycol group with a polymerizationdegree of 2 to 50.

(4) The flexible antibody-like molecule according to the above (1),wherein

the X is an amyloid β (1-15)Asp-Ala-Glu-Phe-Arg-His-Asp-Ser-Gly-Tyr-Glu-Val-His-His-Gln (SEQ ID No.2),

the Y is a polyethyleneglycol group with a polymerization degree of 12to 36,

the antibody Fc fragment is in a dimer form, and

a number of the group having a nonpeptide hinge part is two.

(5) A method for producing a flexible antibody-like molecule having anonpeptide hinge part, the method comprising:

preparing a thioester containing a nonpeptide hinge part represented bya general formula (II):XY-Asp-Lys-Thr-His-Thr (SEQ ID No. 1)-COSRwherein X represents an amino acid or a peptide composed of 2 to 50amino acid residues, Y represents a group having an alkyleneoxide, COSRrepresents a thioester group of C-terminal threonine residue of theamino acid sequence Asp-Lys-Thr-His-Thr (SEQ ID No. 1), and R representsan organic group;

preparing a peptide containing an antibody Fc fragment, the peptidehaving an antibody Fc fragment and an N-terminal cysteine residue; and

subjecting the thioester containing a nonpeptide hinge part and thepeptide containing an antibody Fc fragment to a native chemical ligationto obtain an antibody-like molecule which comprises a group containing anonpeptide hinge part represented by XY-Asp-Lys-Thr-His-Thr (SEQ ID No.1)- and an antibody Fc fragment bound to the group containing anonpeptide hinge part via the cysteine residue.

Effects of the Invention

The present invention can provide an antibody-like molecule that canbind to a target with higher affinity (specifically, with a smallerdissociation constant K_(D)).

The molecule having at least two hands provided by the present inventorsbinds to a target with exceptional affinity, and therefore such animproved antibody holds great promise for future development of antibodytherapeutics.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates the chemical semisynthesis of an Aβ-PEG_(x)-Fc fusionprotein, and shows the following steps: (A) reversible formation of anS-acyl intermediate by transthioesterification; (B) the S-acylintermediate undergoing spontaneous S- to N-acyl migration; and (C)irreversible formation of peptide bond via a five-membered intermediate,wherein the IgG1 hinge region is indicated by boldface.

FIG. 2 illustrates the SDS-PAGE analysis of an unreacted Fc6 protein andchemically-synthesized fusion proteins: (1) Fc6; (2) Aβ-Fc; (3)Aβ-PEG₁₂-Fc; (4) Aβ-PEG₂₄-Fc; and (5) Aβ-PEG₃₆-Fc.

FIG. 3 illustrates the MS spectra of tryptic peptides of theAβ-PEG_(x)-Fc fusion proteins: (A) Aβ-Fc; and (B) Aβ-PEG₁₂-Fc, whereinthe asterisks (*) indicate peaks derived from the fusion proteins andthe insets indicate Aβ-PEG_(x)-DK and THT-Fc6 fragments.

FIG. 4 illustrates the MS spectra of tryptic peptides of theAβ-PEG_(x)-Fc fusion proteins: (C) Aβ-PEG₂₄-Fc; and (D) Aβ-PEG₃₆-Fc,wherein the asterisks (*) indicate peaks derived from the fusionproteins and the insets indicate Aβ-PEG_(x)-DK and THT-Fc6 fragments.

FIG. 5 illustrates the predicted sequence of a ligation site showing thesite of tryptic cleavage (E) and the theoretical m/z values of trypticfragments derived from the ligation site (F).

FIG. 6 illustrates the SEC of the Aβ-PEG_(x)-Fc fusion proteins; (A)Aβ-Fc; and (B) Aβ-PEG₁₂-Fc, wherein the arrows indicate the positions ofmain peaks corresponding to an Fc dimer having two Aβ₁₋₁₅ hands, an Fcdimer having one Aβ₁₋₁₅ hand, and an Fc dimer having no Aβ₁₋₁₅ hands,and HMW indicates a molecular species having a higher molecular weight(the same applies to FIG. 7).

FIG. 7 illustrates the SEC of the Aβ-PEG_(x)-Fc fusion proteins: (C)Aβ-PEG₂₄-Fc; and (D) Aβ-PEG₃₆-Fc.

FIG. 8 illustrates the SDS-PAGE analysis of SEC chromatograms of thefour Aβ-PEG_(x)-Fc fusion proteins, wherein (A) is the superposition offour chromatograms obtained by injecting equal amounts of the proteins;and (B) to (E) are gel analysis of chromatogram fractions of (B) Aβ-Fc,(C) Aβ-PEG₁₂-Fc, (D) Aβ-PEG₂₄-Fc, and (E) Aβ-PEG₃₆-Fc.

FIG. 9 illustrates the MS spectra of two main peaks of SEC chromatogramsof the Aβ-PEG_(x)-Fc fusion proteins: (A) Aβ-Fc; and (B) Aβ-PEG₁₂-Fc,wherein the insets indicate fractions selected from their respectivechromatograms for MS analysis (the same applies to FIG. 10).

FIG. 10 illustrates the MS spectra of two main peaks of SECchromatograms of the Aβ-PEG_(x)-Fc fusion proteins: (C) Aβ-PEG₂₄-Fc; and(D) Aβ-PEG₃₆-Fc.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of the structures of two-handed andone-handed Aβ-PEG_(x)-Fc fusion proteins showing a model for thegeneration of a one-handed fusion protein heterodimer by cleavage of atwo-handed fusion protein homodimer, wherein the sequences of the IgG1hinge region are indicated by boldface.

FIG. 12 illustrates the results of surface plasmon resonance (SPR)analysis of binding of anti-AβmAb (6E10) by the Aβ-PEG_(x)-Fc fusionproteins ((A) Aβ-Fc, (B) Aβ-PEG₁₂-Fc), wherein actual binding curvetraces are indicated by (i) and binding curve fits are indicated by (ii)(the same applies to FIGS. 13 and 14).

FIG. 13 illustrates the results of surface plasmon resonance (SPR)analysis of binding of anti-AβmAb (6E10) by the Aβ-PEG_(x)-Fc fusionproteins ((C) Aβ-PEG₂₄-Fc, (D) Aβ-PEG₃₆-Fc).

FIG. 14 illustrates the results of surface plasmon resonance (SPR)analysis of binding of anti-AβmAb (6E10) by Aβ₁₋₁₅ peptides ((E)pen-(Aβ₁₋₁₅), (F) (Aβ₁₋₁₅)-pra).

MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

A flexible antibody-like molecule having a nonpeptide hinge partaccording to the present invention comprises a molecular recognitionsystem-forming substance X, an alkyleneoxide group-containing group Ybound to the molecular recognition system-forming substance X, anantibody hinge region-forming sequence bound to thealkyleneoxide-containing group, and an antibody Fc fragment bound to theantibody hinge region-forming sequence. The term “binding” includesdirect binding and indirect binding.

The molecular recognition system-forming substance X may be one of aguest substance (target molecule) and a host substance (molecularrecognition substance) that are generally capable of interacting bynon-covalent bond with each other, and specifically, may be an aminoacid, a peptide, or a polypeptide (including a protein). Particularly,the molecular recognition system-forming substance X may be an aminoacid, a peptide composed of 2 to 50 amino acid residues, or apolypeptide.

Examples of the guest substance include various physiological activesubstances, but the guest substance is preferably a disease-relatedsubstance. A specific example of the guest substance includes amyloid β(peptide chain comprising all or part of a well-known sequence ofamyloid β). More specifically, the guest substance is a peptide chainhaving at least the sequence of amyloid β (3-7) EFRHD (SEQ ID No. 3)that is the epitope of amyloid β. Examples of the peptide chain includea peptide chain having the sequence of amyloid β (3-7), a peptide chainhaving the sequence of amyloid β (1-15), DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQ (SEQ ID No. 2),a peptide chain having the sequence of amyloid β (1-42),DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQKLVFFAEDGSNKGAIIGLMVGGVVIA (SEQ ID No. 4), and the like.

The host substance may be a substance that is capable of molecularrecognition of the target molecule (which may be either a biologicalmolecule or a non-biological molecule). Examples of the host substanceinclude an antibody Fab fragment, an aptamer, and the like.

Molecular recognition means that the molecular recognition site of amolecular recognition substance recognizes and interacts by non-covalentbond with the epitope of a specific target molecule. For example,molecular recognition may be affinity specific binding at an associationrate constant ka (unit: 1/Ms) of at least 10³ or 10⁴, for example, 10³to 10⁵ or 10⁴ to 10⁵.

The alkyleneoxide-containing group Y is a bivalent group and may be, forexample, a group containing an alkyleneoxide with 2 to 6 carbon atoms.More specifically, the alkyleneoxide in the alkyleneoxide-containinggroup is ethyleneoxide or propyleneoxide. The alkyleneoxide-containinggroup is preferably a polyalkyleneoxide-containing group. Therefore, thealkyleneoxide-containing group is preferably a polyalkyleneglycol groupformed by polymerization of alkyleneglycol with 2 to 6 carbon atoms(e.g., polymerization degree of 2 to 50). For example, thepolyalkyleneglycol group may be selected from the group consisting of apolyethyleneglycol group (a group formed by polymerization ofethyleneglycol) and a polypropyleneglycol group (a group formed bypolymerization of 1,2-propanediol or 1,3-propanediol).

Particularly, in the present invention, an ethyleneglycol group or apolyethyleneglycol group with a polymerization degree of 2 to 50,preferably 12 to 36 may be selected.

The alkyleneoxide-containing group Y imparts flexibility, or flexibilityand extendibility to the hinge region of the antibody-like moleculeaccording to the present invention.

Examples of the antibody include IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, IgG4, and the like.The antibody may be one derived from any animal, but is particularly onederived from a human. Further, the antibody may be modified in terms ofgenetic engineering.

Examples of the antibody hinge region-forming sequence include anantibody upper hinge region-forming sequence Z_(U), an antibody corehinge region-forming sequence Z_(C), and an antibody lower hingeregion-forming sequence Z_(L), and the antibody-like molecule accordingto the present invention may contain all these sequences. Generally, acore hinge region is a region that is adjacent to the C-terminal side ofan upper hinge region and the N-terminal side of a lower hinge region inthe hinge region of an antibody, and has at least two cysteine residuesforming interchain disulfide bridges between heavy chains.

Each of the hinge region-forming sequences is part or all of thesequence of each of the hinge regions. Far example, the upper hingeregion-forming sequence Z_(U) may be part of the sequence of the upperhinge region, for example, a short sequence composed of, for example, 3to 5 amino acid residues. For example, the upper hinge region-formingsequence Z_(U) is part of the sequence of the IgG1 upper hinge region,DKTHT (SEQ ID No. 1). Further in this case, it is preferred that nocysteine residue is bound to the N-terminal of the sequence DKTHT in theantibody-like molecule according to the present invention.

The core hinge region-forming sequence Z_(C) has at least two cysteineresidues forming interchain disulfide bridges between heavy chains, andthe N terminal-side cysteine residue of the two cysteine residuespreferably corresponds to the N-terminal amino acid residue of the corehinge region-forming sequence Z_(C). One example of the core hingeregion-forming sequence Z_(C) is CPPC (SEQ ID No. 5) that is thesequence of the IgG1 core hinge region.

One example of the antibody lower hinge region-forming sequence Z_(L) isPAELLGGP (SEQ ID No. 6) that is the sequence of the IgG1 antibody lowerhinge region.

The antibody Fc fragment is a polypeptide forming part or all of anantibody Fc region. Specifically, the antibody Fc fragment may have thesecond heavy chain constant region (CH2) and the third heavy chainconstant region (CH3). As one example, the antibody Fc fragment maycomprise a sequence containing of SVFLFPPKPK (SEQ ID No. 7) as at leastpart. The Fc fragment may be in the form of a dimer or a larger multimer(e.g., up to a decamer).

When the Fc fragment is in the form of a dimer, the antibody-likemolecule according to the present invention has two nonpeptide hingepart-containing groups (XYZ_(U)-groups) each containing the molecularrecognition system-forming substance X, the alkyleneoxide-containinggroup Y, and the antibody upper hinge region-forming sequence Z_(U). Theantibody-like molecule having such a structure may be referred to as atwo-handed antibody-like molecule. Similarly, when the Fc fragment inthe antibody-like molecule according to the present invention is in theform of a dimer or a larger multimer, the antibody-like molecule mayhave two or more nonpeptide hinge part-containing groups(XYZ_(U)-groups) and therefore may form two or more-handed antibody-likemolecule.

A counterpart substance of X, which forms a molecular recognition systemin which the antibody-like molecule according to the present inventioncan be involved, is determined by those skilled in the art based on theproperties of X.

The counterpart substance may be a monomeric molecule, a dimer or alarger multimer of molecules, or an aggregate of molecules.

The counterpart substance may be either a biological substance or anon-biological substance.

The counterpart substance may be a low molecular-weight molecule (e.g.,molecular weight of 80,000 or less, or 30,000 or less). For example, thecounterpart substance maybe a low molecular-weight protein such ascytokine.

Flexibility offered by the presence of the alkyleneoxide-containinggroup Y makes it possible for at least one of the two or more hands ofthe antibody-like molecule according to the present invention to alwaysbind with a counterpart substance. This makes it easy to maintain astate where the counterpart substance is grasped by the hand(s). Thatis, the counterpart substance is less likely to be dissociated.Specifically, the association rate constant ka (unit: 1/Ms) of each handis as described above and is equal to that in a case where the molecularrecognition system-forming substance X is a single molecule, but thedissociation rate constant kd (unit: 1/s) is smaller than that in such acase as described above. Therefore, the dissociation constant K_(D)(unit: M) is smaller than that in such a case as described above, andmay be, for example, at most 10⁻⁹, 10⁻¹⁰, 10⁻¹¹, or 10⁻¹², for example,10⁻¹³ to 10⁻⁹.

The antibody-like molecule according to the present invention may beused in any application utilizing a molecular recognition system.Examples of such an application include in-vitro diagnostic agents,molecular target drugs, ELISA (Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay)reagents, probes for molecular imaging [PET (positron emissiontomography), optical imaging], and the like. Those skilled in the artcan select an appropriate molecular recognition system-forming substanceX depending on the intended use of the antibody-like molecule. Ifnecessary, the antibody-like molecule may further contain a functionalgroup (signal group, etc.).

The antibody-like molecule according to the present invention isproduced in the following manner.

A nonpeptide hinge part-containing thioester (XYZ_(U)-COSR) containing amolecular recognition system-forming substance X, analkyleneoxide-containing group Y, and an antibody upper hingeregion-forming sequence Z_(U) is prepared. COSR represents for athioester group (derivable from a carboxyl group) of the C-terminalamino acid residue of the antibody upper hinge region-forming sequenceZ_(U), and R represents an organic group (e.g., a linear or branchedalkyl group with 1 to 18 carbon atoms, an aryl group with 6 to 18 carbonatoms, an aralkyl group as a combination thereof).

The molecular recognition system-forming substance X may be either abiological substance or a non-biological substance, and may be obtainedby any method which is well-known to those skilled in the art such asisolation from a natural product, organic chemical synthesis,biochemical production, or semisynthesis.

The biochemical production includes enzymatic synthesis/decompositionand genetic engineering synthesis (host cells may be either prokaryoticcells such as bacteria, or eukaryotic cells such as yeasts or animalcells) (the same applies to the following other components).

The antibody upper hinge region-forming sequence Z_(U) may be either abiological sequence or a non-biological sequence, and may be obtained byany method which is well-known to those skilled in the art such asisolation from a natural product, organic chemical synthesis,biochemical production, or semisynthesis.

A method which is well-known to those skilled in the art can beperformed for obtaining the molecular recognition system-formingsubstance X and the antibody upper hinge region-forming sequence Z_(U)in a state where these components are linked together via thealkyleneoxide-containing group Y. The thioester group can beappropriately derived from the C-terminal carboxyl group of the antibodyupper hinge region-forming sequence by those skilled in the art.

On the other hand, an antibody Fc fragment-containing peptide having anantibody Fc fragment and an N-terminal cysteine residue is prepared. Theantibody Fc fragment-containing peptide may have an amino acid residueor a peptide chain L between the N-terminal cysteine residue and the Fcfragment [represented by Cys-L-Fc (L is an amino acid residue or apeptide chain)]. The antibody Fc fragment-containing peptide preferablyhas at least one another cysteine residue between the cysteine residueand the antibody Fc fragment [e.g., represented by Cys-L₁-Cys-L₂-Fc (L₁and L₂ are an amino acid residue or a peptide chain)]. Specifically, itis preferred that the antibody Fc fragment-containing peptide containsan antibody core hinge region-forming sequence Z_(C), and the N-terminalcysteine residue corresponds to an N-terminal cysteine residue of theantibody core hinge region-forming sequence Z_(C). Further, it is alsopreferred that the above-described at least one another cysteine residueis also contained in the antibody core hinge region-forming sequenceZ_(C) [e.g., represented by Cys-L₁-Cys-L₂-Fc (Cys-L₁-Cys is the antibodycore hinge region-forming sequence Z_(C))]. The antibody Fcfragment-containing peptide may further contain an antibody lower hingeregion-forming sequence Z_(L) [e.g., represented by Cys-L₁-Cys-L₂-Fc (L₂is the antibody lower hinge region-forming sequence Z_(L))].

The antibody Fc fragment-containing peptide can be obtained by a peptideproduction method which is well-known to those skilled in the art.Therefore, the antibody Fc fragment-containing peptide may be obtainedby any method which is well-known to those skilled in the art such asisolation from a natural product, organic chemical synthesis,biochemical production, semisynthesis, and the like, or a combination oftwo or more of them.

The nonpeptide hinge part-containing thioester (XYZ_(U)-COSR) and theantibody Fc fragment-containing peptide (e.g., Cys-L-Fc) are broughtinto contact with each other so that a negative chemical ligationreaction occurs. The reaction can be performed by incubation in a buffersolution under non-heating conditions (room temperature) for 6 to 16hours. As a result, an antibody-like molecule having the XYZ_(U)-groupand the antibody Fc fragment, to which the XYZ_(U)-group is bound viathe cysteine residue (e.g., XYZ_(U)-Cys-L-Fc), is obtained.

FIG. 1 illustrates the mechanism of the native chemical ligation withreference to one example of the present invention. FIG. 1 illustrates acase where the nonpeptide hinge part-containing thioester containsamyloid β (1-15) DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQ (SEQ ID No. 2) as the molecularrecognition system-forming substance X, polyethyleneglycol with apolymerization degree of x (PEG)_(x) as the alkyleneoxide-containinggroup Y, and DKTHT (SEQ ID No. 1) as the antibody upper hingeregion-forming sequence Z_(U); and the antibody Fc fragment-containingpeptide is a peptide having CPPC (SEQ ID No. 5) as the antibody corehinge region-forming sequence Z_(C) and PAELLGGP (SEQ ID No. 6) as theantibody lower hinge region-forming sequence Z_(L).

In the native chemical ligation, an S-acyl intermediate is reversiblyformed by transthioesterification (FIG. 1A), the S-acyl intermediateundergoes spontaneous S- to N-acyl migration (FIG. 1B), and a peptidebond is irreversibly formed via a five-membered ring intermediate (FIG.1C).

EXAMPLES

[Materials and Methods]

[Human IgG1 Fc Protein]

A recombinant Fe protein (called Fc6) was expressed in Chinese hamsterovary (CHO) cells and purified by Protein A affinity chromatography. ADNA expression vector was designed that directs the expression of achimeric protein containing a human sonic hedgehog homolog (SHH) signalsequence fused to a human IgG1 heavy chain hinge region beginning at a²²⁶CPPC core hinge sequence (heavy chain residues are numbered accordingto the Eu format³⁾; residue ²²⁶Cys corresponds to Cys239 in kobat & Wuformat)²⁴⁾. The sequence of this vector (pCDNA3-SHH-IgG1-Fc11) isdescribed in Capon, D. J. (Nov. 20, 2008) World Patent CooperationTreaty, Publication No. WO/2008/140477. Following secretion and cleavageof the SHH signal sequence, the resulting mature Fc6 polypeptide has apredicted length of 222 residues. Production of an Fc6 protein wasexecuted by transient expression in CHO-DG44 cells adapted to aserum-free suspension medium. Transient transfections were performedusing polyethyleneimine as a transfection agent by forming a complexwith DNA under high density conditions as previously described²⁵⁾. Seedtrain cultures were maintained in 50 tubes of TubeSpin (registeredtrademark) bioreactor and scaled up in volume in order to generatesufficient biomass for transfection. Transfections were carried out inculture fluids of 0.5 Liter to 1 Liter. Cultures at this scale weremaintained in 2-Liter or 5-Liter Schott-bottles with a ventilated cap.The bottles were shaken at 180 rpm in a Kuhner incubator shaker withhumidification and CO₂ control at 5 vol %. The cell culture fluid wasrecovered after 10 days, centrifuged, and sterile-filtered prior topurification. The culture supernatant was applied to a column packedwith rProtein A Fast Flow (GE Healthcare Bio-Sciences AB, Uppsala,Sweden) pre-equilibrated with Dulbecco's phosphate buffered saline (PBS)without Ca or Mg salts (UCSF Cell Culture Facility, San Francisco,Calif.). The column was extensively washed with PBS, and the Fc6 proteinwas eluted with 0.1 M glycine buffer, pH 2.7. Fractions were collectedinto tubes containing 0.05 v/v, 1.0 M Tris-HCl, pH 9.0 (giving a finalpH of 7.5), pooled, dialyzed against PBS, and stored at 4° C. prior touse.

[Peptides]

All synthetic peptides used in this study are shown in Table 1.

In Table 1, amino acid sequences (Sequence) are indicated by boldface.Thioester in Peptides 1, 4, and 5 is derived from thiophenol, andthioester in Peptides 2 and 3 is derived from benzyl mercaptan. Mrstands for a relative molecular mass, and MH⁺ stands for a monoisotopicmass (measured value).

TABLE 1 Peptide No. Mr (Da) MH⁺ Sequence Aβ-DKTHT 1 2515.6 2516.68DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQ- DKTHT- thioester Aβ-PEG₁₂- 2 3115.6 3115.64DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQ-PEG ₁₂- DKTHT DKTHT-thioester Aβ-PEG₂₄- 3 3629.7 3629.67DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQ-PEG ₂₄- DKTHT DKTHT-thioester Aβ-PEG₃₆- 4 4158.2 4158.40DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQ-PEG ₃₆- DKTHT DKTHT-thioester DKTHT 5  776.8  776.60Azidoacetyl-DKTHT- thioester pen-Aβ 6 1921.0 1921.94 pentynoyl-DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQ-NH ₂ Aβ-pra 7 1905.9 1906.56 DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQ-propargylglycine-NH ₂ DKTHT = SEP ID NO: 1 DAEFRHDSGYHVHHQ = SEP ID NO:2

All the peptides shown in Table 1 were synthesized by an Fmoc/t-butylsolid-phase strategy on a 2-chlorotrityl chloride resin preloaded withFmoc-Thr(tBu)-OH. Amino acid derivatives were obtained from CPCScientific (Sunnyvale, Calif.), Fmoc-PEG_(x)-OH derivatives werepurchased from Quanta BioDesign (Powell, Ohio), and2-(1H-benzotriazole-1-yl)-1,1,3,3-tetramethyluronium hexafluorophosphate(HBTU), dichloromethane (DCM), trichloroacetic acid (TFA),N,N′-diisopropylcarbodiimide (DIC), 1-hydroxybenzotriazole (HOBt),N,N′-diisopropylethylamine (DIEA) and triisopropylsilane (TIS) werepurchased from Sigma (St. Louis, Mo.). The standard HBTU activation wasemployed for peptide elongation. Peptides 2-4 required the insertion ofFmoc-PEG_(x)-OH (x=12, 24, and 36, respectively). As a final step in thepeptide elongation, the terminal α-Fmoc (9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl)protecting group was converted to Boc (tert-butoxycarbonyl). The peptideresin was washed with DCM and cleaved with 1% TFA/DCM (volumetric basis)to yield a fully-protected peptide having a free carboxylic acid on theC-terminus. The crude protected peptide was treated with DIC/HOBt/DIEAand either thiophenol (Peptides 1, 2, 5) or benzyl mercaptan (Peptides3, 4) in DCM overnight to form a thioester of the peptide. Afterconcentration, the crude protected peptide thioester was precipitated bymultiple triturations with cold ether, followed by centrifugation.Deprotection was carried out by treatment of the crude protected productwith 95:2.5:2.5 TFA/TIS/H₂O (volume ratio) at room temperature for 2hours. After precipitation with ice-cold ether, the deprotected peptidethioester was purified by preparative RP-HPLC in a H₂O-acetonitrile (0.1vol % TFA) system to obtain a final product with a purity of 91-95% anda desired MS.

[Chemical Semisynthesis of Symmetroadhesins]

2-(N-morpholino)ethanesulfonic acid (MES) was purchased from Acros(Morris Plains, N.J.), tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine (TCEP) waspurchased from Pierce (Rockford, Ill.), and 4-mercaptophenylacetic acid(MPAA) was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, Mo.). Reactionscontained pH 6.5, 50 mM MES buffer, 0.8 mM TCEP, 10 mM MPAA, 5 mg/ml ofthe peptide thioester, and 1 mg/ml of the Fc6 protein. Followingincubation at room temperature for 15 hours, reactions were adjusted topH 7.0 with 0.05 v/v of 1 M Tris-HCl, pH 9.0 and purified on HiTrapProtein A HP columns purchased from GE Healthcare (Piscataway, N.J.).The reaction products were analyzed by SDS polyacrylamide gelelectrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) under reducing conditions using NuPAGE(registered trademark) Novex Bis-Tris Midi Gels (10%) purchased fromInvitrogen (Carlsbad, Calif.). Proteins were visualized using SilverStain Plus or Coomassie Brilliant Blue R-250 purchased from Bio-Rad(Hercules, Calif.).

[In-Gel Tryptic Digestion of Proteins]

HPLC-grade acetonitrile (ACN) and trifluoroacetic acid (TPA) werepurchased from Wako Pure Chemical Industries (Osaka, Japan). Ammoniumbicarbonate (NH₄HCO₃), dithiotreitol (DTT), and iodoacetamide (IAA) werepurchased from Nacalai Tesque (Kyoto, Japan). Sequence grade trypsin waspurchased from Promega (Madison, Wis.). Protein bands from the gel wereexcised and destained with 300 μl of a solution containing 50% v/v ACNin an aqueous 50 mM NH₄HCO₃ solution at 4° C. for 45 minutes. The gelpieces were dehydrated in 150 μl of 100% ACN at room temperature for 10minutes and then dried using Speed Vac (registered trademark) for 30minutes. A solution having a volume of 100 μl, which contained 10 mM OTTin an aqueous 50 mM NH₄HCO₃ solution, was added to the dried gels toreduce sulfide bonds at 37° C. for 1 hour. After the solution wasremoved, the proteins were alkylated in 100 μl of a solution containing55 mM IAA in an aqueous 50 mM NH₄HCO₃ solution at room temperature for 1hour under the dark. Afterward, the gel pieces were washed with 150 μlof an aqueous 50 mM NH₄HCO₃ solution and then dehydrated in 150 μl of100% ACN. This step was repeated 2 times. The gel pieces were then driedin a vacuum centrifuge for 30 minutes. The dried gels were rehydratedwith 2 μl of a solution containing 50 ng/μl of trypsin in an aqueous 50mM NH₄HCO₃ solution, and incubated at room temperature for 5 minutes.Then, 18 μl of ultrapure water was further added, and the proteins weredigested at 37° C. overnight. After digestion, 40 μl of an aqueous 50%v/v ACN solution containing 0.1% v/v TFA was added to the digestionmixtures, and the gel pieces were sonicated for 15 minutes. Thesupernatant was collected into new 0.5 ml tubes.

[MALDI-TOF MS Analysis]

MALDI mass spectra were obtained using AXIMA performance MALDI-TOF massspectrometer (Shimadzu/KRATOS, Manchester, UK) equipped with a 337 nmnitrogen laser in the positive ion reflectron mode and the linear mode.α-Cyano-4-hydroxy-cinnamic acid (CHCA) and sinapinic acid (SA) wereobtained from LaserBio Labs (Sophia-Antipolis Cedex, France). As MALDImatrices, CHCA was used for trypsin-digested proteins and SA was usedfor SEC-separated proteins. A matrix solution was prepared by dissolving5 mg of the matrix compound in 0.5 ml of an aqueous 50% v/v ACN solutioncontaining 0.1% v/v TFA. A sample solution (0.5 μl) was mixed with anequivalent amount of the matrix solution on a target plate and thendried at room temperature for MALDI-TOF MS analysis. The m/z values werecalibrated using, as external standard, 2 pmol of each of [AngiotensinI+H⁺] (m/z 1296.7), [Angiotensin II+H⁺] (m/z 1046.5),[[Glu1]-Fibrinopeptide B+H⁺] (m/z 1570.7), [N-acetyl-resin substratetetradecapeptide I+H⁺] (m/z 1800.9), [ACTH fragment 1-17+H⁺] (m/z2093.1) and [ACTH fragment 18-39+H⁺](m/z 2464.2), and 3 pmol of [ACTHfragment 7-38+H⁺] (m/z 3656.9), 7.5 pmol of [Bovine serum albumin+H⁺](m/z 66430.09 (average)), and [Aldolase+H⁺] (m/z 39212.28 (average)).

[Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC)]

SEC was carried out using a Prominence HPLC System (Shimadzu Corp,Kyoto, Japan) or an AKTA Avant FPLC System (GE Healthcare, Piscataway,N.J.), and similar results were obtained. TSKgel columns were purchasedfrom TOSOH Bioscience (Tokyo, Japan). A mobile phase, a flow rate, acolumn temperature, and a detection wavelength used were 50 mM sodiumphosphate, pH 7.4 and 300 mM NaCl, 0.35 mL/minute, 25° C., and 214/280nm, respectively. All four Aβ-PEG_(x)-Fc symmetroadhhesins (x=0, 12, 24,and 36) were analyzed side-by-side in each experiment. In order toanalyze the efficiency of synthesis of two-handed molecules, 5 μL ofeach of reaction products purified with Protein A was applied to aTSKgel SuperSW 3000 [4.6 mm I.D.×30 cm L] column. The ratio of molecularspecies was calculated from the area under each peak. In order toconfirm the subunit structures of two-handed and one-handed molecules bySDS-PAGE, the reaction products purified with Protein A were firstconcentrated 10-fold using 0.5 ml Amicon Ultracel-3K centrifugal filters(Millipore, Cork, IR); 50 μl of each concentrate was then applied tofour TSKgel columns coupled in series (two G2000SW_(XL) and twoG3000SW_(XL) [7.8 mm I.D.×30 cm L] columns). Fractions were thenanalyzed using NuPAGE (registered trademark) Novex Bis-Tris Midi Gels(4-12%) under reducing conditions. For the determination of themolecular weight of the two major chemical species observed by SEC, 50μL of each reaction product purified with Protein A was applied to aTSKgel G3000SW_(XL) [7.8 mm I.D.×30 cm L] column. Peak fractions wereanalyzed by MALDI TOF MS analysis in the linear mode.

[Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR)]

SPR tests were carried out using a Biacore T100 instrument (Biacore AB,Uppsala, Sweden). A ligand, biotin-labeled 6E10 monoclonal antibody(Covance, Princeton, N.J.), was immobilized at a concentration of 10mg/ml in PBS onto a CAP sensor chip, Series S, using a Biotin CAPtureKit (GE Healthcare, Piscataway, N.J.). The sensor chip was loaded with astreptavidin capture reagent and regenerated according to themanufacturer's instruction, including an additional regeneration stepusing 0.25 MNaOH in 30% acetonitrile. Binding of Aβ symmetroadhesins andAβ peptides was carried out at 25° C. in 10 mM Hepes buffer, pH 7,4, 150mM NaCl, 3 mM EDTA, and 0.005 vol % Tween-20. Data was evaluated usingBiacore T100 Evaluation Software, version 2.0.3.

[Results]

[Quantitative Synthesis of Symmetroadhesins]

A strategy of the present inventors for chemical semisynthesis of Aβsymmetroadhesin is shown in FIG. 1.

A native chemical ligation was carried out using the recombinant Fcprotein (Fc6) engineered to have cysteine residues at both N-termini.The present inventors developed mildly reducing, non-denaturingconditions that favor a stable Fc dimer and maintain the sulfhydrylgroups of the N-terminal cysteines in a reduced state, allowing the Fc6molecule to readily react with C-terminal thioesters. Nucleophilic acylsubstitution involving both the N-terminal sulfhydryls of the Fc6molecule as nucleophiles (FIG. 1A) leads to a thioester-linkedintermediate having two Aβ thioesters (FIG. 1B). Subsequent nucleophilicattack by both the Fc6 N-terminal amino groups followed byintramolecular rearrangement results in irreversible peptide bondCarnation between Fc6 and two Aβ peptides (FIG. 1C).

In order to obtain the Fc6 protein, the present inventors employed arecombinant DNA construct placed a signal sequence placed adjacent to acysteine residue normally found in the hinge region. The IgG1 hingeregion contains three cysteine residues, i.e., ²²⁰Cys the upper hingeregion (CDKTHT (SEQ ID No. 8)) which usually participates in thedisulfide bond between the heavy chain and the light chain; and ²²⁶Cysand ²²⁹Cys in the core hinge region (CPPC (SEQ ID No. 5)) which aresometimes present in the interchain disulfide bonds between two heavychains. The present inventors selected ²²⁶Cys over ²²⁰Cys as theN-terminus for the Fc molecules of the present inventors. The reason forthis is that molecules having ²²⁰Cys at their N-terminus (Fc3) were lesseasily reduced as judged by thiol-sepharose binding experiments (datanot shown). In addition, ²²⁶Cys was selected over ²²⁹Cys as theN-terminus. The reason for this is that ²²⁶Cys has a greater potentialto stabilize symmetroadhesins, as suggested by the crystallographicstructures of a human IgG1, and it shows that the ²²⁶Cys residues areclearly covalently bound while the ²²⁹Cys residues are visiblyseparated¹⁷⁾.

The signal sequence of the sonic hedgehog homolog (SHH) was chosen forthe secretion and processing of the Fc protein since its own maturepolypeptide has an N-terminal cysteine. The pCDNA3-SHH-IgG1-Fc11construct efficiently directed the synthesis of the Fc6 proteinfollowing the transient transfection of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)cells. FIG. 2 shows that the Fc6 product obtained by the affinitypurification of the transfected CHO cell supernatants has an apparentmolecular weight of 27,000 daltons on SDS-PAGE under reducing conditions(lane 1). The Fc6 protein was well expressed in transient transfectionsand reached levels exceeding 0.8 g/L, and was found to quantitativelybind and elute from Protein A affinity resins.

The ability of Fc6 to react with five different C-terminal thioesters(listed in Table 1) was investigated. All the five thioesters contain aportion of the upper hinge region (DKTHT (SEQ ID No. 1)) at theirC-terminus. Four of the five thioesters also contain 15 amino acidsequence (DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQ (SEQ ID No. 2)) derived from a human Aβprotein bound at C-terminus to the N-terminus of the upper hinge region.In addition, three of the Aβ-containing thioesters incorporated anonpeptide chain between the Aβ sequence and the upper hinge sequence.The nonpeptide portions in these peptides were composed of oxyethyleneoligomer (PEG) of a chain length of 12, 24, or 36, respectively.

FIG. 2 shows that Fc6 reacted quantitatively with all the fivethioesters, so that a ladder of products of increasing size was yieldedon SDS-PAGE under reducing conditions (lanes 2-6). Similar to the 15amino acid residue Aβ sequence, the addition of the PEG₁₂ oligomer gavea size increase on SDS-PAGE (compare lanes 2-4 in FIG. 2). This suggeststhat a single amino acid residue and a single oxyethylene monomer unitmake similar contributions to contour length, while being consistentwith the comparable lengths of their transconformations (approximately3.5 to 4 angstroms)¹⁶⁾. The addition of PEG₂₄ and PEG36 gave furthersize increases over PEG₁₂, and the increases were consistent (comparelanes 3-6 in FIG. 2).

Since the present inventors produced Fc6 as a native, folded protein bysecretion in mammalian cells, it was critically important to avoid theuse of chaotropic agents and strong reducing conditions typicallyemployed in other native chemical ligation studies¹⁷⁾. Nevertheless,mild reducing conditions were essential. The reason for this is that,otherwise, the Fc6 protein was found to be essentially unreactive withthioesters (data not shown). The quantitative yields of symmetroadhesins(>90%) were readily obtained as seen in FIG. 2 by combining a non-thiolreducing agent such as tris(2-carboxyethyl) phosphine with a thiolreducing agent such as 4-mercaptophenylacetic acid²⁶⁾.

[Primary Structure Analysis of Symmetroadhesins]

In order to confirm the exact nature of the chemical linkage between theAβ sequence and Fc6, the present inventors analyzed the monomerstructures of the four Aβ symmetroadhesins by mass spectrometry. TheAβ-Fc, Aβ-PEG₁₂-Fc, Aβ-PEG₂₄-Fc, and Aβ-PEG₃₆-Fc symmetroadhesinreaction products were purified by SDS-PAGE and characterized usingin-gel tryptic digestion. Peaks detected by MALDI-TOF MS were fit totheoretical peptides predicted for symmetroadhesins, respectively, sothat a sequence coverage between 78.9-81.8% was obtained (FIGS. 3A, 3B,4C, and 4D). This sequence coverage was sufficient to uniquely identifyeach of the symmetroadhesins. The present inventors focused analysis ontwo sequences, i.e., an Aβ-PEG_(x)-DK fragment which should be differentin all the four symmetroadhesins; and a THT-Fc6 fragment whichrepresents the chemical ligation site and should be identical in all thefour symmetroadhesins (FIG. 5E). The theoretical m/z values for thesefive predicted sequences are shown in FIG. 5F. The observed MS spectrarevealed peaks at m/z values that are in excellent agreement with allfour unique fragments (Aβ-DK, Aβ-PEG₁₂-DK, Aβ-PEG₂₄-DK, Aβ-PEG₃₆-DK) aswell as the common ligation site fragment (THTCPPCPAPELLGGPSVFLFPPKPK(SEQ ID No. 9)).

[Subunit Molecular Structure of Symmetroadhesins]

The Aβ symmetroadhesin reaction products were expected to have a dimericstructure similar to that of the parent Fc6 molecule. In addition, whentaking into consideration the small amount (<10%) of apparentlyunreacted substance Fc6 observed in all the four reactions (FIG. 2,lanes 3-6), each of the reaction products maybe a mixture of homodimershaving two Aβ “hands”, heterodimers having one Aβ “hand”, and unreactedFc6 homodimers. Accordingly, size exclusion chromatography (SEC) wasused in order to investigate the subunit molecular structures of thefour Aβ symmetroadhesins. The Aβ-Fc, Aβ-PEG₁₂-Fc, Aβ-PEG₂₄-Fc andAβ-PEG₃₆-Fc reaction products were purified from unreacted thioester byProtein A affinity chromatography, and then analyzed by SEC undernative, non-reducing conditions (50 mM sodium phosphate, pH 7.4, 300 mMNaCl). FIGS. 6A, 6B, 7A, and 7B show that all the four symmetroadhesinreaction products exhibited two main peaks. The sizes of these two mainpeaks increased in the order Aβ-Fc<Aβ-PEG₁₂-Fc<Aβ-PEG₂₄-Fc<Aβ-PEG₃₆-Fc.Furthermore, the size separation between the two main peaks that wereobserved for a predetermined symmetroadhesin reaction product increasedin the same relative order. In addition, all the four symmetroadhesinreaction products exhibited a smaller minor peak at 24.4 minutes havinga size expected for the unreacted Fc6 dimer (No Aβ hand). Theseobservation results, when summarized, suggested that the larger andsmaller main peaks represent the predicted“two-handed” and “one-handed”symmetroadhesins, respectively.

TABLE 2 Reaction Two-handed One-handed No Aβ hand HMW Aβ-Fc 72.7% 24.6%2.5% 0.2% Aβ-PEG₁₂-Fc 66.1% 29.5% 4.4% ND Aβ-PEG₂₄-Fc 74.6% 19.8% 2.8%2.8% Aβ-PEG₃₆-Fc 70.9% 24.1% 2.6% 2.4%

Table 2 shows Aβ-PEG_(x)-Fc symmetroadhesin product ratios determined bysize exclusion chromatography (SEC). The ratios for each of the fourreaction (Reaction) products shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 were calculateddirectly from the area of each peak. HMW represents a molecular specieshaving a higher molecular weight, and ND represents not detected.

As shown in Table 2, the two-handed symmetroadhesin candidate was amajor product observed in each of the four reactions (66-74%). Finally,three of the reaction products also exhibited a minor higher molecularweight (HMW) peak (FIGS. 6A, 7C, and 7D). As for the two main peaks, thesize of this peak increased along with the length of the oxyethyleneoligomer.

In order to confirm the predicted subunit structures of the two-handedand one-handed symmetroadhesins, preparative SEC was carried out underthe native, non-reducing conditions (FIG. 8A) and the resultingfractions were analyzed by SDS-PAGE under reducing conditions (FIGS. 8Bto 8E). In each of the four symmetroadhesin reactions, the candidatepeak for the two-handed symmetroadhesin was composed almost exclusivelyof the expected Aβ-PEG_(x)-Fc product (x=0, 12, 24, 36), and accordinglyits homodimeric structure was confirmed. Similarly, the candidate peakfor the one-handed symmetroadhesin was composed of a 1:1 ratio of theexpected Aβ-PEG_(x)-Fc product and the apparently unreacted Fc6, andaccordingly its heterodimeric structure was confirmed.

In order to establish the exact molecular relationship between thetwo-handed symmetroadhesin and the one-handed symmetroadhesin, the twomain peaks observed on analytical size exclusion chromatograms wereanalyzed by MALDI-TOF MS in the linear mode (FIGS. 9A, 9B, 10C, and10D).

TABLE 3 MW (theoretical) MW (observed)¹ Aβ- Aβ- Two- One- -PEGx- -PEGx-Reaction Handed Handed ΔMW² -DKTHT -DKT Aβ-Fc 57,536 55,383 2,153 2,3902,152 Aβ-PEG₁₂-Fc 58,733 55,981 2,752 2,989 2,751 Aβ-PEG₂₄-Fc 59,78956,509 3,280 3,518 3,280 Aβ-PEG₃₆-Fc 60,845 57,037 3,808 4,046 3,808

In Table 3, MW (observed)¹ represents the molecular weight of each ofthe two-handed and one-handed products in each of the four reactions(Reaction) shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, and ΔMW² represents the difference inmolecular weight between the two-handed and one-handed products in eachof the reactions (Reaction).

The results shown in Table 3 led to the surprising finding that thedifference in molecular weight (ΔMW) between the Aβ-PEG_(x)-Fc reactionproduct and the apparently “unreacted” Fc6 was consistentlyapproximately 238 daltons greater than the difference expected. For allthe four Aβ symmetroadhesins, the observed ΔMW corresponds to themolecular weight of the fragment Aβ-PEG_(x)-DKT. These results stronglysuggest that the smaller chain present in the one-handed heterodimer isnot the expected unreacted Fc6 monomer chain but instead represents theAβ-PEG_(x)-Fc reaction product which has been subsequently cleavedbetween the ²²³Thr residue and the ²²⁴His residue within the upper hingeregion (DKTHT (SEQ ID No. 1)) (FIG. 11).

(Surface Plasmon Resonance Tests)

As the major reaction product obtained for all the four Aβsymmetroadhesins was the two-handed homodimer, the present inventorsinvestigated whether such preparations had the ability to bind todimeric targets as two-handed molecules. This analysis was carried outusing a monoclonal antibody capable of interacting with both of the Aβsequences that were incorporated into the two-handed symmetroadhesinhomodimers. The DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQ sequence (SEQ ID No. 2) is well suitedfor this purpose as the sequence contains the principal epitope (EFRHD(SEQ ID No. 3)) recognized by some monoclonal antibodies that arereactive with human Aβ (1-42) fibrils including 6E10¹⁸⁾, PFA1 andPFA2¹⁹⁾, WO2²⁰⁾, and 12A11, 10D5, and 12H4²¹⁾. Accordingly, the presentinventors characterized the binding of the Aβ symmetroadhesins of thepresent inventors to one of these antibodies (6E10) using surfaceplasmon resonance (SPR). The present inventors compared the binding ofAβ peptides containing the DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQ sequence (SEQ ID No. 2) whichwere expected to bind to 6E10 in a one-handed manner. FIGS. 12 to 14show the results obtained when 6E10 was immobilized on the surface ofthe SPR chip. Specific binding was observed with all the four Aβsymmetroadhesins (FIGS. 12A, 12B, 13A, and 13B) and with two Aβpeptides, i.e., pen-Aβ and Aβ-pra (Table 1) (FIGS. 14E and 14F), thatcontained the 15 amino acid Aβ sequence. No binding was observed at allwith Fc6 or the DKTHT-Fc6 symmetroadhesin (FIG. 2, lane 2), andaccordingly it was confirmed that binding was specific for the Aβsequence.

The binding of 6E10 by the Aβ symmetroadhesins was qualitatively andquantitatively different from that of the Aβ peptides (FIGS. 12 to 14).

TABLE 4 ka2 kd2 KD2 ka1 kd1 KD1 (1/Ms) (1/s) (M) Rmax2 (1/Ms) (1/s) (M)Rmax1 Chi² Aβ Symmetroadhesin DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQ- 6.119E+04 4.742E-057.749E-10 34.9 1.010E+04 1.414E-03 1.401E-07  91.5 0.96  DKTHT-Fc6DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQ- 7.858E+04 4.127E-08 5.251E-13 37.4 8.865E+03 8.290E-049.350E-08 155.5 0.98  PEG₁₂-DKTHT-Fc6 DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQ- 7.965E+044.747E-07 5.960E-12 40   9.592E+03 6.728E-04 7.014E-08 119   1.1  PEG₂₄-DKTHT-Fc6 DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQ- 8.347E+04 4.429E-06 5.306E-11 29.79.080E+03 5.695E-04 6.272E-08 119.9 0.72  PEG₃₆-DKTHT-Fc6 Aβ Peptidepentynoyl- 1.055E+05 2.114E-03 2.003E-08  10.4 0.039 DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQ-NH₂DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQ- 9.531E+04 1.601E-03 1.679E-08  12.2 0.075propargylglycine-NH₂ DKTHT = SEQ ID NO: 1 DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQ = SEQ ID NO: 2

Table 4 shows the kinetic results of Mab-6E10 binding measured bysurface plasmon resonance.

The kinetic binding curves for both of the Aβ peptides gave a good fitwith a 1:1 Langmuir model (x²<0.1) which was consistent with one-handedbinding. In contrast, the four Aβ symmetroadhesins did not give a goodfit with the 1:1 Langmuir model (x²>10), and this indicated two classesof binding sites. As shown in Table 4, a good fit was obtained for thefour Aβ symmetroadhesins by employing a two-exponential model (x²<1.1)The single affinity site exhibited by the pen-Aβ (17 nM) and Aβ-pra (20nM) peptides was similar to the low affinity sites observed for theAβ-Fc (140 nM), Aβ-PEG₁₂-Fc (93 nM), Aβ-PEG₂₄-Fc (70 nM), andAβ-PEG₃₆-Fc (62 nM) symmetroadhesins (Table 4). This affinity site wasconsistent with a one-handed binding mechanism by a fraction of thesymmetroadhesin population. In addition, the A62 -Fc, Aβ-PEG₁₂-Fc,Aβ-PEG₂₄-Fc and Aβ-PEG₃₆-Fc symmetroadhesins all exhibited a much higheraffinity site that was greater by two to five orders of magnitude overthe corresponding low affinity sites, and this provided strong evidencefor the existence of two-handed binding of 6E10 by a significantfraction (19-27%) of the Aβ symmetroadhesins (Table 4).

[Discussion]

Proteins prefer to form compact globular or fibrous structures, so thattheir exposure to solvent is minimized. This tendency is inherent bothin the polypeptide backbone having a propensity for hydrogen-boundsecondary structure, and in side chain interactions that promotetertiary folding. Therefore, most of previous efforts to introduce“flexibility” into antibodies using peptides have been inadequate. Forexample, it is common to employ a combination of an amino acid thatfavors solvent interactions (e.g., serine) and an amino acid that breaksa helical structure (e.g., glycine). This approach is useful in makingfusion proteins such as single-chain antibody fragments (scFv), but theresulting structures are quite compact with no evidence of extendibility(for example, see Reference Document 20). Further, such sequences arelikely to cause additional problems due to their intrinsicimmunogenicity and proteolytic susceptibility.

The present inventors pursued a novel strategy that introduces anonprotein chain into the hinge region by chemical semisynthesis. Theresults of the present inventors demonstrate quantitative yields ofantibody-like molecules having nonprotein hinge parts that connect thetwo Aβ₁₋₁₅ peptides with the Fc dimer. These molecules form two-handednative dimers that exhibit high affinity for an anti-Aβ monoclonalantibody. The Aβ-PEG_(x)-Fc dimer having a nonprotein hinge part of thepresent inventors has an affinity that is two to five orders ofmagnitude greater than the cognate peptide, and is therefore consideredto bind much better than the Aβ-Fc dimer. The full interpretation ofthese results awaits the determination of three-dimensional structure ofthe Aβ₁₋₁₅ peptide, which contains the immunodominant epitope ofAlzheimer's Aβ(1-42) fibrils. The exact configuration of this epitope(DAEFRHDS (SEQ ID No. 10)) in complex with the Fab fragments has beenresolved in X-ray structures^(19),21)), but the same region appearsdisordered in 3D structures of Aβ(1-42) fibrils obtained by quenchedhydrogen/deuterium exchange NMR studies²⁷⁾.

The analysis by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis indicates thatthe formation of the desired Aβ-PEG_(x)-Fc fusion protein exceeds 90%.In addition, the MS analysis of the one-handed reaction productspurified by SEC indicates that they contain two reacted Fe polypeptides(FIG. 11), one of which is full-length but the other of which has beenhydrolyzed at the T/HT sequence that is a major site of proteolysis(e.g., papain)⁹⁾. Therefore, the overall efficiency of the nativechemical ligation step, excluding the subsequent cleavage, may be muchcloser to 100%. The native ligation conditions also appear to becompletely compatible with the native structure and bioactivity of theFc dimer, while imparting some of the properties of nonprotein polymers.The results of the present inventors indicate that the addition ofdiscrete oxyethylene oligomers not only improves binding but alsoappears to have a significant effect on the hydrodynamic radius of theFc protein as evidenced by the size exclusion chromatography of theAβ-PEG₁₂-Fc, Aβ-PEG₂₄-Fc, and Aβ-PEG₃₆-Fc molecules when compared withthe Aβ-Fc molecule.

MALDI-TOF MS appears to be ideally suited for the characterization ofthe novel protein-nonprotein-protein molecules of the present inventors.The most part contributed by the hybrid structures can be efficientlycharacterized not only in tryptic digests, but also in the two-handedand one-handed native Fc dimers. Ionization and desorption appear to bemediated by the adjacent protein sequences in the protein-nonproteinhybrid molecules of the present inventors, and this suggest theapplication of this approach to a broad range of chemically distinctpolymer chains.

In conclusion, the present inventors have described here a significantstep toward the goal of the present inventors, i.e., toward the completechemical semisynthesis of antibodies having nonprotein hinge parts thatincorporate large binding domains such as the Fab region itself orreceptor extracellular domains. Additional progress will depend upon theidentification of other protein ligation reactions that can be combinedwith a native chemical ligation; that are similarly compatible with thenative structure and function of the cognate proteins; and that canefficiently proceed at micromolar concentrations that are achievableusing such native proteins in solution. The antibody-like molecule thatis envisioned by the present inventors has enormous potential as acandidate therapeutic agent having improved binding affinity for diseasetargets.

REFERENCE DOCUMENTS

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The invention claimed is:
 1. A flexible molecule having a nonpeptidehinge part, comprising a molecular recognition system-forming substanceX, an alkyleneoxide-containing group Y bound to the molecularrecognition system-forming substance X, an antibody upper hingeregion-forming sequence Z_(U) bound to the alkyleneoxide-containinggroup Y, and an antibody Fc fragment comprising, at its N-terminal side,an antibody core hinge region-forming sequence Z_(C) bound directly tothe C-terminal side of the antibody upper hinge region-forming sequenceZ_(U), wherein: a) the molecular recognition system-forming substance Xis (i) a peptide composed of 2 to 50 amino acid residues, or (ii) anantibody Fab fragment, and is capable of non-covalent binding with atarget molecule; b) the alkyleneoxide-containing group Y is apolyalkyleneglycol group, the polymerization degree of which is from 2up to 36; c) the antibody core hinge region-forming sequence Z_(C)consists of the sequence CPPC (SEQ ID No. 5); and d) the antibody upperhinge region-forming sequence Z_(U) comprises 3 to 5 amino acids, thesequence of which is or is within, the sequence of the IgG1 upper hingeregion, DKTHT (SEQ ID No. 1).
 2. The flexible molecule according toclaim 1 wherein the polyalkyleneglycol group is formed by polymerizationof an alkyleneglycol group of 2 to 6 carbon atoms.
 3. The flexiblemolecule according to claim 1 wherein the polyalkyleneglycol group is apolyethyleneglycol group or polypropyleneglycol group.
 4. The flexiblemolecule according to claim 1 wherein the polymerization degree of thepolyalkyleneglycol group is from 12 up to
 36. 5. The flexible moleculeaccording to claim 1 wherein the alkyleneoxide-containing group is apolyethyleneglycol group, the polymerization degree of which is from 12up to
 36. 6. The flexible molecule according to claim 1, comprising twononpeptide hinge part-containing groups each containing the molecularrecognition system-forming substance X, the alkyleneoxide-containinggroup Y, and the antibody core hinge region-forming sequence Z_(C) bounddirectly to the C-terminal side of the antibody upper hingeregion-forming sequence Z_(U), wherein the antibody Fc fragment ispresent in a dimer.
 7. The flexible molecule according to claim 6wherein the polyalkyleneglycol group is formed by polymerization of analkyleneglycol group of 2 to 6 carbon atoms.
 8. The flexible moleculeaccording to claim 6 wherein the polyalkyleneglycol group is apolyethyleneglycol group or polypropyleneglycol group.
 9. The flexiblemolecule according to claim 6 wherein the polymerization degree of thepolyalkyleneglycol group is from 12 up to
 36. 10. The flexible moleculeaccording to claim 6 wherein the alkyleneoxide-containing group is apolyethyleneglycol group, the polymerization degree of which is from 12up to
 36. 11. A method for producing a flexible molecule having anonpeptide hinge part, the method comprising: a) preparing a nonpeptidehinge part-containing thioester (XYZ_(U)-COSR) containing a molecularrecognition system-forming substance X, an alkyleneoxide-containinggroup Y, and an antibody upper hinge region-forming sequence Z_(U),wherein: i) the molecular recognition system-forming substance Xrepresents a peptide composed of 2 to 50 amino acid residues or anantibody Fab fragment and is capable of non-covalent binding with atarget molecule, ii) the alkyleneoxide-containing group Y represents apolyalkyleneglycol group, the polymerization degree of which is from 2up to 50, iii) the antibody upper hinge region-forming sequence Z_(U)comprises 3 to 5 amino acids of the sequence of the IgG1 upper hingeregion, DKTHT (SEQ ID No. 1), iv) COSR represents a thioester group ofthe C-terminal amino acid residue of the antibody upper hingeregion-forming sequence Z_(U), and v) R represents an organic group; b)preparing a peptide containing an antibody Fc fragment, the peptidehaving an antibody Fc fragment and an N-terminal cysteine residue; c)subjecting the nonpeptide hinge part-containing thioester (XYZ_(U)-COSR)and the peptide containing an antibody Fc fragment to a native chemicalligation under non-denaturing, reducing conditions to obtain a moleculewhich comprises a XYZ_(U)-group and an antibody Fc fragment bound to theXYZ_(U)-group via the cysteine residue.
 12. The flexible moleculeaccording to claim 1 wherein the polymerization degree of thepolyalkyleneglycol group is
 12. 13. The flexible molecule according toclaim 1 wherein the polyalkyleneglycol group is a polyethyleneglycolgroup, the polymerization degree of which is
 12. 14. The flexiblemolecule according to claim 6 wherein the polymerization degree of thepolyalkyleneglycol group is
 12. 15. The flexible molecule according toclaim 6 wherein the polyalkyleneglycol group is a polyethyleneglycolgroup, the polymerization degree of which is
 12. 16. The method of claim11, wherein the Fc fragment comprises, at its N-terminal side, anantibody core hinge region-forming sequence Z_(C) bound directly to theC-terminal side of the antibody upper hinge region-forming sequenceZ_(U), wherein the antibody core hinge region-forming sequence Z_(C)consists of the sequence CPPC (SEQ ID No. 5).
 17. The method of claim11, wherein the polymerization degree of the polyalkyleneglycol group isfrom 2 up to
 36. 18. The method of claim 11, wherein the polymerizationdegree of the polyalkyleneglycol group is from 12 up to 36.